416 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
administration*; and (5) stores purchased in England for
use or consumption in India. England being a gold-standard
country, these payments were necessarily gold payments. But
the revenues of the Government of India out of which these
payments were met were received in silver, which was the sole
legal-tender money of the country. It is evident that even if
the gold payments were a fixed quantity their burden must
increase pari passu with the fall in the gold value of silver.
But the gold payments were not a fixed quantity. They have
ever been on the increase, so that the rupee cost of the gold
payments grew both by reason of the growth in their magnitude,
and also by reason of the contraction of the medium, i.e. the
appreciation of gold, in which they were payable. How greatly
this double levy diminished the revenues of India, the figures
in Table XI give a convincing testimony.
TABLE XI
| IN | NCREASE IN | THE RUPEE COST | T OF GOLD PAYMENTS† | Col5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Year | Average Rate of Exchange for the Year | Total Excess of Rupees needed to provide for the net Sterling Payments of the Year over those required to meet the Sterling Payments of 1874-75 | Amount of this Excess due to | |
| (1) Fall in the Rate of Exchange over that of 1874-75 | (2) Increase in gold payments over those of the Year 1874-75 | |||
| 1875-76 1876-77 1877-78 1878-79 1879-80 1880-81 1881-82 1882-83 1883-84 1884-85 1885-86 1886-87 1887-88 1888-89 1889-90 1890-91 1891-92 | s. d. 1 9.626 1 8.508 1 8.791 1 7.794 1 7.961 1 7.956 1 7.895 1 7.525 1 7.536 1 7.308 1 6.254 1 5.441 1 4.898 1 4.379 1 4.566 1 6.090 1 4.733 | R 86,97,980 3,15,06,824 1,30,05,481 1,85,23,170 39,23,570 3,12,11,981 3,18,19,685 62,50,518 3,44,16,685 1,96,25,981 1,82,11,346 4,69,16,788 4,63,13,161 9,00,38,166 7,75,96,889 9,06,11,857 10,44,44,529 | R 41,13,723 1,44,68,234 1,14,58,670 1,04,16,718 1,65,37,394 1,92,82,582 1.98,76,786 1,86,35,246 2,33,46,040 2,48,03,423 2,54,95,337 4,46,68,299 4,96,60,537 6,59,71,998 6,06,98,370 4,65,48,302 6,54,52,999 | R 45,84,257 1,70,38,590 1,15,46,811 81,06,452 -1,26,13,824 1,19,29,399 -1,19,42,899 2,48,85,764 1,10,70,645 51,77,442 -4,37,06,683 22,48,489 - 33,47,376 2,40,66,168 1,68,98,519 4,40,63,555 3,89,91,530 |
- Since the Reform Act of 1920 that part of this cost which was “political” has
been placed upon the British Estimates.
† Compiled from figures in Appendix II, p. 270, of the Indian Currency
Committee of 1843.